


looking after you

by Val_Creative



Series: IT Movies Fic-Palooza 2019 [34]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Ben Hanscom Loves Beverly Marsh, Beverly Marsh Loves Ben Hanscom, Domestic Fluff, Established Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Established Relationship, F/M, Illnesses, Married Couple, Post-IT Chapter Two (2019), Sickfic, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 15:48:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20969063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val_Creative/pseuds/Val_Creative
Summary: Ben gets sick. Beverly insists on taking care of him.





	looking after you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whoaaitsmichele](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoaaitsmichele/gifts).

> Requested by whoaaitsmichele (AO3): "benverly fic where ben is sick and tries to hide it because he feels like he has to take care of beverly and not the other way around until beverly is like shhhh let me take care of you." THEY'RE SO SWEET. THANK YOU FOR THIS PROMPT. :D I also don't know why the series format is bugging out but all stories are still connected!

*

Ben knows something is off while he's visiting the aquarium with Beverly. She's dressed in little black pumps and a velvet-lined coat for the winter season—it's _not_ her, no. Beverly is as radiant as slow-burning, glorious January embers, like usual.

A wave of intense dizziness hits him.

Ben flinches, looking away from the hammerhead shark exhibit, losing his bearings. He stumbles for the indoor-bench, dropping into a sit. Several of his fingers press into his temple, Ben's eyes closing. In a matter of moments, it's over. His mouth feels timber-dry, swollen.

He realizes with chagrin that both of his hands _shake_ visibly.

"Ben! _Ben_!" Beverly yells for him near the emergency exit-doors, grinning. Her rosy, cherubic dimples revealing themselves.

(That's how he always wants to see her. Happy.)

*

Beverly flies out on a business trip for nearly a month.

As much as Ben misses her, he is so relieved she can't see him like this. Pale and somber. Ben's muscles so weak; he becomes easily fatigued and struggles with keeping up his mid-morning work routine.

During their annual chairmen meeting, Ben attempts to hold in his coughing. One or two members gaze up at him, bemused.

_"Mr. Hanscom—"_

"Ben. It's Ben. Carry on with the marketing strategy, please," Ben replies, clearing his phlegm-filled throat. "I need to, erm, take this." He gestures with his mobile, its screen pitch-dark. Once the webcam switches off, Ben heaves and pukes to the rug, groaning.

*

He swears it was only a _cold_ when this started. A mild one.

Beverly doesn't need to worry about him while she's visiting her new business investors.

It's 5:30am in Beijing.

Ben self medicates with over-the-counter tablets and decongestant, taking a smidgen more than needed. He feels well enough to go out to the construction site in Manhattan, putting on a yellow hard-helmet and glancing over the plans with his contractors.

His vision blurs, Ben's own lines fading into squiggles. That's when he makes the cataclysmic mistake of _looking up_.

_Too quickly._

Ben passes out in a heap, eyes slowly rolling back. He lands into the arms of two nearby workers dumping their coffee.

*

_Winter-fire._

Ben's eyes flutter open, trying to pinpoint that glowing, magnificent red.

His wife clasps onto Ben's hand, encouraging him to wake fully by rubbing their hands together. "You should have told me it was pneumonia," Beverly murmurs, frowning.

"_Bev_…_erly_…"

She taps a finger against Ben's mouth, the corners of Beverly's mouth ticking up.

"You've done everything you possibly could for me, Ben. You helped me escape Tom. You've supported my new partnership with Christine Lau." Beverly regrasps her and Ben's fingers, cradling him so _gently_, mindful of the needles in his wrists giving him fluids. She's so beautiful, jet lagged and scrubbed clean of her makeup. "So… it's my turn to take care of you, got it?"

"… Got it," Ben murmurs, smiling at the hint of no-nonsense possessiveness in Beverly's voice.

He's hers.

Always.

*


End file.
